Finding Solutions To Rid Your Home Of Mould

Most of us do our best to keep our homes clean. Of course, it’s not always that easy when you have young children who tend to track mud and dirt into our houses after playing outside. Not to mention, dinner time can result in quite the mess when your children are playing with their food instead of eating. But to be fair, we can’t always blame the kids. How many of us are guilty of leaving dishes in the sink or our clothing on the floors?

Okay, so maybe being neat and tidy all of the time isn’t so easy. However, it needs to be said that keeping a clean home is good for your health. How so? Well consider the fact that when you allow dust to accumulate, you invite allergen-ridden dust mites to infest your home. As well, when you don’t wipe up spills and you allow other food particles to accumulate into messy puddles, you invite mould growth into your living space.

Vacuuming up dust isn’t so hard a task. Especially if you are using a HEPA filter, you are doing yourself quite the favour in maintaining a home with limited dust. But what should be done about that mould problem that you’ve brought on? In some cases, it can be wiped away. And, in others, a major mould problem requires a major cleaning regimen. It’s important to rid your home of mould as it is also known to cause serious health issues.

Mould growth is most prevalent in areas of the home where a lot of moisture occurs. Your shower stall or bathtub is a perfect example. Do you see those dark green or black spots in between the tiles in your bathroom’s shower? That’s mould. And you may notice that it doesn’t disappear with your run-of-the-mill spray and wipe routine. Don’t despair. There’s still a way to get rid of it.

“Surface moulds grow in just about any damp location, such as the grout lines of a ceramic tiled shower,” says FamilyHandyman.com, “They’re easy to scrub away with a mixture of 1/2 cup bleach, 1 qt. water and a little detergent. The bleach in the cleaning mixture kills the mould, and the detergent helps lift it off the surface so you can rinse it away so it won’t return as fast. You can also buy a mildew cleaner at hardware stores, paint stores and most home centres.”

On HousewifeHowTo.com, Katie Berry writes that painted walls also tend to experience mould development. She offers her solution to cleaning it up. “My personal recommendation is to use the vinegar/borax/water method first and wait two days to see if mould returns,” she advises, “If it does, move on to using the bleach/water approach. (Bleach is very irritating to the lungs, eyes and skin, so I prefer avoiding its use whenever possible.)”

She warns that no matter what type of method you use to remove mould from your home, it’s important to wear rubber gloves. That way, you can protect your skin from coming into contact with the mould. As well, she recommends that you “wear old clothing so you can wash it in HOT water to kill any mould spores that wind up on your clothes, and be sure to ventilate the area well while you’re working so you aren’t inhaling the stuff.”

At DF Technical & Consulting Services Ltd., we like to see ourselves as mould’s arch enemy. We offer Mould Assessment Services in order to help you locate problem areas of the home where mould may be developing. It’s imperative to pinpoint these areas in order to prevent potential health problems for your family. For more information, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-855-668-3131 or email info@dftechnical.ca.